Author: John Hawkins

I like John Podhoretz, but the spin he’s trying to get over here could not possibly be more wrong: “Hey, gang of 14 haters. With Republicans in the minority, can you say right now you’re sorry that the Senate rules still allow for a filibuster?” #1) Because the Republicans in the Senate foolishly refused to […]

In his latest column, Brian Maloney writes: “Even before the final returns had come in last night, it was clear that Republicans had been handed a defeat in the House of Representatives and if they do manage to hang on to the Senate, it will be by a thread, at best. Clearly ticked off at […]

There is already speculation now that John Bolton is going to get the ax next because there’s no way that the Democrats will ever agree to confirm him. But, Bolton isn’t a political liability and he’s done a fine job at the UN. So, instead of canning him, why shouldn’t Bush publicly urge the Democrats […]

“The Republicans lost and the Democrats won for the same reason — they distanced themselves from their base.” — Dave S. from Tim Blair’s comment section Via Instapundit & Eject!Eject!Eject!

Domestic Dems Complete Election Sweep of Congress Dennis Hastert: The Republican Leader In The 110th Congress Will Have The Responsibility To Emphasize Conservative Values And Reform Principles. I Will Not Seek This Role Trent Lott Making Comeback as Whip (Oh, Good Grief) Some Republican Leadership Musings From Rich Lowry William “Mr. Freeze” Jefferson Advances To […]

There were a lot of factors that played into the GOP’s crushing loss last night. The most important of them are as follows: Bush’s Approval Rating: Unfortunately, George Bush seems to be operating under the assumption that his approval rating is irrelevant since he doesn’t have to run for office again. On issue after issue, […]

When Donald Rumsfeld became Secretary of Defense, he made an effort to change the military into a faster, sleeker force more capable of dealing with the sort of post Cold-War battles that we’re likely to fight today. Combine the sort of bureaucratic infighting that effort surely prompted with the fact that Rumsfeld is an extremely […]

I just got off of a teleconference with Congressman Jeff Flake and Pat Toomey from the Club for Growth. Here are my notes (not quotes) from the teleconference: Jeff Flake: This disastrous election we just had wasn’t a result of the war or the Foley scandal, it was because we as a party need a […]

A little earlier, I was in on a teleconference with Congressman Jack Kingston and quite a few other bloggers. Here are some notes (not quotes) about what Kingston had to say: — Lessons learned: We’ve got to go back to the Contract with America. We’ve got to have a clear platform. — I don’t think […]

I estimated the GOP would lose 5 seats in the Senate and 22-29 in the House. Unfortunately, it looks like I was a touch too optimistic. Here’s a short comparison of my initial analysis to the actual results: State: Michigan Competitors: Debbie Stabenow (D) vs. Mike Bouchard (R) My Analysis: 90/10 — Likely Democratic Retention. […]

Since WWII, the party of the incumbent President has typically lost more than 30 seats in the House of Representatives and six seats in the Senate during the second midterm. In addition, in the five wartime congressional elections since 1860, the President’s party has lost an average of 32 House seats and five Senate seats.” […]

There was precious little good news last night for Republicans, but there are a few pieces of silver lining shining out through the clouds: — The netroots favorite candidate, Ned Lamont, lost to Joe Lieberman in what could fairly be called a referendum on the war in Iraq. — Lincoln Chafee lost and other than […]

There was not a lot of good news on the Rightroots front last night (Only 2 out of 21 of our candidates won), but I guess that’s to be expected in a year where no Republican challengers to Democratic incumbents in the House or Senate managed to get elected: Here’s the breakdown of how the […]

Sheldon Whitehouse has knocked off Lincoln Chafee. It’s hard to get too upset about that one since Chafee was genuinely to the left of center and didn’t even vote for Bush in 2004. Good riddance to bad rubbish on that one. That means the other three key races to watch are Allen in VA, Burns […]

Via Rich Lowry at The Corner: Here’s information from a chart that GOP insiders…are using as a cheat sheet Eight in the most likely gone category: PA-7, Weldon, OH-18, Ney open, IN-8, Hostettler, CO-7 Beauprez open, AZ-8, Kolbe open, NY-24, Boehlert open, PA-10, Sherwood, CT-4, Shays. Eight in the expect to lose most of these […]

Short Answer To The Question phrased in the title: Yes, but it’s unlikely. Long Answer: The available polling data seems to show that the GOP is going to lose the House and almost all the political analysts out there agree with that assessment. However, there is a small glimmer of hope for the GOP. Right […]

I called in just a touch late to a teleconference with RNC Chairman Ken Mehlman today and for whatever reason, it took the attendant like 5 minutes to actually put me on with Ken. So, I missed his early remarks. Still, here’s what Ken had to say (These are notes, not quotes, and many of […]

Senate Robert Novak: GOP -2 Mary Matalin: GOP -3 Election Projection: GOP -3 to -4 Republican Pollster Richard Wirthlin: GOP -4 John Tabin: GOP -4 Fred Barnes: GOP -4 Republican Pollster Steve Lombardo: GOP -4 Cook Political Report: GOP -4 to -6 Stuart Rothenberg: GOP -4 to -7 Tucker Carlson: GOP -5 Paul Weyrich: GOP […]

Via Redstate comes this insane commercial for Democrat John Eaves, who is “running to replace Republican Karen Handel as the Chairman of the Fulton County Commission, the county in which Atlanta exists.” If you boil the commercial down to its essence, it basically says that either black Americans should vote for John Eaves or the […]

I know that on a day where the question isn’t, “whether the GOP is going to take a beating,” it’s, “how bad is the beating going to be,” it’s easy to get demoralized and it’s probably more than a little tempting to some people not to bother with voting. However, something Pat Riley once said […]

This could be just spin to discourage Republicans from voting for Chafee or it could be genuine given what a huge RINO Chafee is. Either way, I really detest Chafee, so I don’t have any qualms about posting it on here on election day: I have a friend in Rhode Island—a Democrat torn between his […]

Elections Kerry Gaffe Loses Independents For His Party Polls Give GOP A Lift On Election Eve Repeat Calls Spur a Debate Over Tactics (Disgraceful Tactic) Lieberman Says Win Won’t Be Debt to GOP Rasmussen: On The Day Before Election Day, 45% Of Americans Approve Of The Way That George W. Bush Is Performing His Role […]

State: Michigan Seat Currently Held By: Debbie Stabenow (D) Competitors: Debbie Stabenow (D) vs. Mike Bouchard (R) Last Poll: Detroit News — Stabenow +13 Latest RCP poll spread: Stabenow +16 October Polling: Stabenow wins 18, Bouchard wins 0. My Analysis: 90/10 — Likely Democratic Retention. State: Minnesota Seat Currently Held By: Mark Dayton (D) Competitors: […]

Mary Katharine Ham does her part to plug participation in the GOP’s Get Out The Vote Program: Unfortunately, she didn’t use the line I suggested to her, “I love it when conservative men call and talk to me about why I should vote Republican!” Still, if MK did inspire you to sign up to help […]

It’s much more difficult to project winners and losers in the House than the Senate because polling data is scarce in a lot of the races. So, since that’s the case, these estimates are much more dodgy than the Senate estimates. Still. here’s about how it’s looking: Republican Seats Leaning Democratic Takeover AZ-08: Randy Graf […]

Over at the Huffington Post, the libs in the comments section got so furious about Saddam Hussein being sentenced to death (as if he didn’t deserve it a hundred times over), that Huffpo reader after reader after reader called for George Bush to be put to death as well. You almost have to see it […]

Someone sent this over to me and it was too good to ignore. It’s part of a Lieberman ad that attacks Lamont for being too close to Kos. I love it!

The United States must use any means necessary — ANY MEANS — to stop this from happening: “THE spectre of a nuclear race in the Middle East was raised at the weekend as six Arab states announced they were embarking on atomic technology programs. The move, which follows the failure by the West to curb […]

‘It should be made clear that if anything happens to Gilad Shalit, Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh and Interior Minister Sayid Siam will join the martyr’s list’ — Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Avigdor Lieberman